


Edward, the Prince of Cruelty

by DarkPhoenixGoddess10



Series: Anne and Richard: Inspired by Fairy Tales [32]
Category: The Sunne in Splendour - Sharon Kay Penman, The White Queen (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-05 23:45:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14629554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkPhoenixGoddess10/pseuds/DarkPhoenixGoddess10
Summary: Edward of Westminster, the Lancastrian Prince of Wales, was known as a prince of cruelty. It was said that when his mother Margaret of Anjou asked him what deaths should the York captives suffer, he simply said that their heads should be cut off.However, his true nature remained untold, but his wife Lady Anne Neville knew. She kept it to herself, even after she was safe in the arms of her second husband Richard Duke of Gloucester. It continued to haunt her even after she returned to the North.Inspired by fairy tales "Bluebeard" and "The Three Spinners".





	Edward, the Prince of Cruelty

**April 1472**

The sound of laughter and drunken guests didn't mean much to Anne. She silently sat in the four poster bed and waited for her groom. She closed her eyes and kept reminding herself that the man who is to enter her chamber is Richard, Duke of Gloucester. He was a man with honor. He was a warrior, trained by her father. He had dark hair and dark eyes. And the most of all, he had Edward of Lancaster slain.

Or did he?

She had heard several different accounts on the death of Edward of Lancaster, her first husband. Some said that it was Richard who killed him; others reported that he was killed in the battle. Despite the different versions of the story, it was reported that Edward of Lancaster is dead and buried. The thought of his name made Anne shiver. Many had said that Edward of Lancaster was a monster.

Monster...

Anne tried to think of other things as the door opened.

* * *

_December 1470_

_In a dark chapel, Anne knelt besides Edward of Lancaster. She barely knew the man but had heard rumors of his coldness and cruelty. Her father should've known too, but it mattered a little. They were in exile now and the York King Edward would never forgive them. It was either she wed Edward of Lancaster and to become Queen of England or they would forever remain in exile, or even worse, they would all lose their heads. Edward of Lancaster had dark brown hair and he barely made any eye contact with her. A chill came to Anne's heart when she placed her hand in his._

_Not too far away, Margaret of Anjou watched. She seemed to have some sympathy over Anne._

_The night of her wedding, Anne slept alone. Edward of Lancaster never came to her._

* * *

 

**April 1472**

The door opened and Richard came. He filled up two goblets of wine before he undressed. He climbed into the bed and their hands interlaced. He gave her a smile and then a kiss. Anne could feel his hand slipped under her shift. He was rubbing her stomach and then her breasts. He pulled her up and tugged her shift over her head. Pressing her body against his, he held her against his heart and remained as thus until she wrapped her arms around him too.

He sensed her uneasiness.

He stroked her back and kissed her shoulders. He continued to kiss her as he laid her down. He rubbed her nipple and massaged her breasts.

* * *

_January 1471_

_It was a month after their marriage and yet it was not consummated. Anne spent her days before a spinning wheel. Margaret of Anjou had given her a strange task._

_"You will spin," she said. "My son likes the sound of spinning."_

_But Anne didn't like spinning. After a day or two, she stopped, using the excuse of homesickness. The Countess of Warwick was furious with her. She should be pleasing her husband, her mother scolded her. So Anne tried to resume the spinning but only found it boring. She stopped and went to the church to give out charities._

_There, she met three women with strange features. The women, three sisters, explained_ _that their features were result of their spinning - a swollen foot, a large thumb, and a pendulous lip._

_Anne immediately invited them to the castle, offering them food and shelter if they would do her spinning for her. The women gleefully accepted. Days went by and the sound of spinning didn't stop._

* * *

**April 1472**

"Richard," she muttered his name. 

She looked at him and realized that both of them were naked. Blushing, she traced the scars on his body. "Richard, can you tell me a story?"

"What do you want to hear?"

Adjusting her position, she said, "Wars, the battle you were in. The stories of each scar, how you sustained them."

"Those will not be the stories for ladies."

"I am my father's daughter," she said, burying her face in his chest. 

Caressing her body, he chuckled, "I can tell you my scars are my battle records." He went on with one adventure after another, but he avoided talking about Lancaster.

"Did you kill him?" She asked suddenly.

"Who?"

"Him," she said, knowing that Richard should've known who she's referring to.

* * *

_March 1471_

_As the three women handled the spinning, Anne found herself with nothing to do. It was then she realized that Lancaster was never there to listen to the sound of spinning. Where could he be? Anne walked around the castle and came to a small door. There were sounds in there, and she thought she heard the voice of Lancaster. She was about to knock on the door until one hand grabbed her shoulders._

_Anne nearly jumped and found Margaret of Anjou standing next to her._

_"You are not to enter that chamber," she whispered harshly into Anne's ear. "You do what I tell you to do but stay away from that chamber!"_

_Anne nodded with chills went down her spine._

_Margaret of Anjou certainly had frightened her._

_Was Lancaster having an affair? What could be in that chamber?_

_Anne was curious. One day, in the middle of the night, she crept out of her bed and went before that door. Slowly, with her hand slightly shaking, she placed her hand on the door handle. Inch by inch, she opened the door._

_What she had seen...she would never forget._

_Shivering from head to toe, she turned to leave - only to find Lancaster standing by the door staring at her with his cold, empty eyes._

_"Bonsoir, Madame."_

* * *

**April 1472**

"Ah!" Anne cried out in pain when Richard thrust into her. He tried to kiss her tears away and waited for her to adjust before he thrust into her again. His heart pounded soundly in his chest. Anne was his; and he was her first and only. 

Although it hurt, Anne found it comforting at heart. Nothing made her feel safer than being in Richard's arms. 

"Don't...don't stop," she said almost beseechingly. 

He thrust into her again, and again.

* * *

_March 1471_

_Anne was locked in her bedchamber until two guards escorted her back that terrifying small chamber. There, Lancaster was waiting for her._

_She nearly fainted._

_On the wall was the dismembered body parts of the three spinning women. They had became his victims along with other young boys, whom he had murdered and dismembered. Their body parts were all over the walls._

_"I saved a place for you," Lancaster said without emotion._

_Quickly, Anne calmed herself and fell onto her knees._

_"Please, let me live," she said. "You will need me alive to keep my father on your side."_

_"Your father is dead," he told her. "I have no use of you anymore."_

_"He still has allies," she insisted. "They will only fight for you because of me! Please, let me live at least until-"_

_"The girl is right," Margaret of Anjou said. She looked helplessly at Anne. "We need to keep her for the time being. When you become King of England, you can do whatever you like with her then."_

_The guards took Anne back to her bedchamber. Since then, she was locked up until Margaret of Anjou took them back to England to fight the York forces. Anne followed Margaret of Anjou to a nunnery while Lancaster joined the battlefield. Everyday, she looked out from the window and prayed for York victory._

_Because her life depended on it._

_It was much relief that York won the victory._

_She couldn't believe the news of Lancaster's death until she was informed three times._

* * *

**April 1472**

"When are we leaving London?" Anne asked, resting in Richard's arms.

"Tomorrow," he replied. "We are going home, to Middleham."

"Aren't we?" She said.

"I promise you," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

Anne closed her eyes and slowly she fell asleep. She buried her face in his neck, praying that she would not dream about that horrific day when she discovered the gruesome dismembered corpses of Lancaster's victims.

Finally, the dawn came and it was morning.

Anne got dressed and climbed onto a horse. Richard rode by her side and together, they left London.

Anne never looked back. 

She hoped for a new beginning and never go back to that terrifying memory again. 

* * *

 

  **May 1473**

Exhausted, Anne could barely lift her finger. After nearly two days of labor, she had given birth to a son. The child was born almost one month early, but he was healthy. Richard came to see her, with their baby in his arms.

"Our son," he said. "Well done Anne."

"Shall we name him Richard?"

"No," he said. "His name is Edward."

As he went on thanking her for giving him his heir and how her life meant more to him than anything else, Anne heard none of that. 

Only one word came to her.

_Edward..._

 

**Author's Note:**

> For the tale of Three Spinners: https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm014.html
> 
> For the tale of Bluebeard: https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0312.html#germany


End file.
